Placer County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

In a study published in Nature Sustainability, scientists assessed the potential for wide-scale synthetic production of dietary fats. The raw materials are the same as those used by plants: hydrogen in water and carbon dioxide in the air.

The acquisition includes the Daou brand, Daou Mountain Estate, four luxury wineries, and around 400 acres of vineyards in Adelaida District of Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County.

The Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District and the Placer County Air Pollution Control District have announced a new voucher program that helps offset the cost of replacing gas- or diesel-powered lawn and garden equipment with battery-operated zero-emission options.

Hundreds of wells in Tulare Lake aquifer are at risk of going dry. Today's recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on local plans that fail to stop excessive groundwater pumping.

Water providers say rebates for residential areas are costly and residents may refuse to remove their lawns. The rules aim to save enough water for more than a million households a year.

The European Union has banned certain additives that are used in American candies and baked goods. California is on the cusp of prohibiting their sale by 2027.

Many farmworkers in Coachella Valley lack legal status as citizens and don't qualify for most federal and state disaster aid. Even a new $95 million storm assistance program for immigrants that Governor Gavin Newsom recently touted is out of reach because it pertains to the winter and spring storms and floods.

BriarPatch Food Co-op will open the doors of its second store location at 2505 Bell Rd. in Auburn during a grand opening Aug. 10.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors took the final step needed to launch a timber salvage project being jointly managed by the county and the U.S. Forest Service — improving public safety and preparing 2,636 acres of previously forested ground for replanting and restoration after last year’s devastating Mosquito Fire.

With the newly acquired University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe campus, the University is looking to invigorate the demonstration garden it once helped to start at the former Sierra Nevada College campus.

South Lake Tahoe's 77-year-old trout farm was "well and truly dedicated" to be preserved by the Native Sons of the Golden West.

With the Placer County Planning Commission’s approval, the Project 8 Winery and its entitlements will continue on to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.

Ranchers in Placer, Nevada, and Yuba counties, along with UC Cooperative Extension and county agricultural departments, have established a program to facilitate livestock and human safety before, during, and after wildfire and other emergencies.

Although the Placer County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the Project 8 Winery and its entitlements on April 27, residents took the opportunity to begin sharing input during the public comment period of the April 13 meeting.

The Horseshoe Bar/Penryn Municipal Advisory Council on Tuesday voted to recommend approval of the Project 8 Winery in Penryn to the Placer County Planning Commission. The proposed project is slated for a 17.96-acre portion of a 44.14-acre site at 7615 Callison Road.

The Placer County Fair, which takes place June 22-25 in Roseville, is looking for residents to compete for awards and vendors to sell arts, crafts or food.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a beekeeping ordinance during its latest meeting.

California has given the federal government its own counterproposal for apportioning reductions of Colorado River water, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.

Board President Tim Sands, who was the only board member to vote against the delay, said the action was taken “to work out details and mitigate the effects of implementation.”

The Gold Country Fairgrounds Board of Directors, overseen by the Department of Food and Agriculture, adopted a policy prohibiting vehicle access on the fairgrounds in 2019. Now policy enforcement is about to ramp up.

The environmental impact report for the Penryn-based winery includes a 76-foot-high tower and 18 acres of hospitality and winemaking facilities. Half of commenters approve; others cite fears of traffic, noise pollution.

Stanford scientists have genetically re-programmed plants to grow roots that change how they gather nutrients or water.

In the fall, rice fields in the Sacramento Valley usually shine golden brown as they await harvesting. This year, however, many fields were left covered with bare dirt.

Drought, human-caused climate change, invasive species and a “legacy” of environmental issues are permanently altering California’s landscape and placing some communities and ecosystems at increasing risk.

Commercial beekeepers will have two-mile setbacks, a limit of 100 hives per site and five hives per acre; competition over nectar resources is becoming fierce. Restrictions may be dropped during pollination season.

Linda and Stewart Resnick have donated $50 million to UC Davis for an agricultural research center—the largest donation in the campus’s history—but the couple’s Wonderful Company is the state’s single biggest water user.

UC Davis is set to build a center focused on agricultural innovation and research after Beverly Hills billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick gave the university $50 million, the largest donation it has received from individual donors.

For the first time, members at the California Farm Bureau Annual Meeting will be able to sell goods from their farms and ranches. Called the California Marketplace, this interactive event will be held Dec. 4—one of several new features of the meeting, taking place Dec. 2-7 in Monterey.

The town of Loomis will soon be home to the first public garden in Placer County. The Loomis Town Council approved a memorandum of understanding with the University of California Cooperative Extension group for community demonstration gardens on the library grounds.

Five tastes of the Bay Area and greater Sacramento are now available under one roof in Roseville, where Local Kitchens micro-food hall opened in the Highland Reserve Marketplace.

Winery owner and UC Santa Cruz chemistry professor Phil Crews teamed up with a group of researchers to conduct a study on how the taste of wine was affected by wildfire smoke.

For the first time in three years, the California State Fair will return. This Sacramento tradition of food and carnival rides is now four months away.